The Interdisciplinary Concentration

As I found myself drifting away from the education program at Georgia Gwinnett College, I began to research the different degrees offered and I stumbled upon the English major. One of the very first sentences on GGC's English degree page says, "Find Your Voice with an English Degree" (GGC Bachelor of Arts: English). This sentence also happens to be exactly what I wanted to accomplish through college. After the education program, all I wanted was to find my voice specifically through writing.

As I continued to maneuver around the page, I clicked on one of the links titled, "Interdisciplinary Studies" which happened to be one of the four concentrations offered through the English program.

I quickly realized that I could change my major to English - Interdisciplinary Studies and still graduate on time. While 78 of the 123 credit hours apply to the major, 45 of those hours are courses, or electives, of my choosing from any other discipline.

While I've heard most professor’s express negativity towards the Interdisciplinary Studies, I find that I have met every program outcome goal listed below -

1. Demonstrate understanding of critical and theoretical approaches to the study of literature, language, and the arts.

2. Read, interpret, and evaluate texts, especially literary ones, as aesthetic works and sites of cultural production and exchange.

3. Demonstrate effective communication skills in and about a variety of media related to the study of literature, language and culture.

4. Demonstrate proficiency in research and scholarly methods.

5. Engage with, understand, and support the relevance of literature, art, and textual study within a globally diverse community.

It has been hard finding professor's and even colleagues who fully understand the Interdisciplinary Studies. But I have found that I enjoy learning many different things at once and the Interdisciplinary Studies through the English program offered at GGC has allowed me to do that.

Through the English Major - Interdisciplinary Studies, I have been able to mingle around the different programs that GGC has to offer. In doing that, however, I have always found myself coming back to different lessons that, along the way, I've learned in my English related courses.

Sources:

“Catalog.” Program: English - Concentration: Interdisciplinary Studies (BA) - Georgia Gwinnett College - Acalog ACMS™, catalog.ggc.edu/previewprogram.php?catoid=20&poid=3 53.

Georgia Gwinnett College. “Bachelor of Arts: English.” Georgia Gwinnett College, 16 Mar. 2016, www.ggc.edu/academics/degrees-and-programs/english/.